Adventures in a 1952 cinder block house

Behind the scenes of Bath Crashers

I know a lot of people wonder what it’s like to have a home improvement show taped in your home.

Its wild on so many levels, but the experience and end result were so worth it. 100 times over. To give a little insight, here’s some thought I have on the project.

Not having any control of what your bathroom will look like and being 100% okay with it.

After we were ambushed, I couldn’t sleep. I was just too excited to see what Matt and team were going to do with our bathroom. You see, we had no idea how our opinions would be interpreted. We saw the final plans for the new bathroom for the first time on camera.

I though giving up control would be more difficult for me given my love of home design and my many opinions about it. Turns out, I actually was excited to have someone else take a shot at our bathroom. I just decided it was part of the experience and just let it be.

Going into that first day of demolition with little in the way of expectations I believe worked to our advantage. We were thrilled with the design.

Letting your home be turned into a construction site overnight.

It’s amazing how encompassing a reality TV show is. Our life basically shut down during the renovation.

We had to move our whole bedroom into my office, quarantine the cats away and have the rest of our house available for construction builds, craft services and just holding supplies almost 24 hrs a day.

Nate and I both took time off work for the project. We did whatever was asked of us from the demolition to painting the entire space overnight. We were also extremely lucky to have many friends and family do the same to help out.

Meeting some very talented people.

Matt and his team were a pleasure to work with. All of the contractors, carpenters, film crew, production staff and vendors who worked our bathroom were just amazing. I learned a lot from working with and watching them in their element. It was very inspiring.

This project really opened up my eyes to what’s possible. Every possible constraint was pushed to get the bathroom done. I have never seen so many people crammed into a small space accomplished so much in such a short time period.

Taking a leap of faith and going for it.

More than anything, we feel so thankful to be given a chance at this opportunity. Walking blindly into this project was intimidating to say the least, but I am so glad we did it. Not only did we get this gorgeous, dream bathroom – we also got an education.

I know our future DIY projects will take a lot more time and patience, but this experience let us see the possibilities that skill and expertise bring you which really is invaluable.

Comments

OMG! Where do you guys live? We are in Sacramento and we on House Crashers! In fact, Doug Tolson was our contractor and just so happens to be an amazing friend of ours! Our experience was 100% amazing and so fun! I’d love to share a before and after of your bathroom on my blog, with a little bio, and link back to your blog… would that be ok? Soooooo happy for you!

Hi, I am Andrea and this is where I write about my life with my husband Nate and our many creative pursuits in and around our cinder-block house.

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P.S.

We are just two thirty-somethings working on our house after work and on the weekends. We are not professionals. We do not have a contractors license or years of on-the-job experience.

This blog is our journal of our projects - good or bad, successful or not. We are learning as we go. Before each project, we research the how-to's with knowledgeable friends and family; in books, magazines and of course on the internet.

We encourage comments and feedback on all our posts. Please let us know any tips or ideas you have on our projects. We love to get them!!